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[V-Adore]

Like the subject says: I was in my very first car accident at reasonable speeds involving another car. I was turning left (attempting to make a U-turn on a four-lane divided highway), didn't check my blind spot, and bam. Both I and the other driver were okay; her car suffered bumper damage and a broken headlight, and mine got the entire driver's-side panel caved in and the driver's-side mirror broken off. (She was driving a Ford Explorer, and I was driving a Hyundai Elantra, which explains the damage levels...)

I was very shaken at the time, and I'm still kind of concerned, in retrospect. It went a lot better than it could have -- no serious injuries, no traffic citations, insurance all around, and another driver who wasn't even angry -- but it still feels like... a strangely catastrophic thing. Is this normal? Should it feel really weird and unpleasant that I crashed the car, even though no serious harm has been done to it?

Alternately, share your own car-accident stories, so I don't feel quite so alone.

[KeithHernandez]

Yes, that is very normal.  The only wreck I have been in that involved another car was right after I graduated High School.  I was buying a new car and happened to be passing it (the car was already picked out but to be purchased the next day).  I was with a friend and pointed it out.  When I took my eyes of the road to do that, I went into the side of the road thing.  There was a car parked there, so I swerved back to the left, only it had just rained so I ended up doing circles in the middle of a highway.  We got hit right on my passenger side, only the person that hit me was uninsured, not supposed to be driving, or the run from the law, etc., because he got out about half a mile down the road, checked his car and kept driving.  I was hell of freaked out.

[pmcd9]

Me too

[le_chien_manquee]

it depends on your personality , i suppose.  i've been in a few and they've all been great fun.  i look back on them all very fondly.

mind, you, i've never been seriously hurt - my list of injuries consists of two lost front teeth, a bit of skin loss, about 15 or 20 stitches and a sprained thumb. 

[CortJstr]

I was rear-ended on the way to work at like 7 mph back when I was temping. The SUV that hit me had like $4,000 in damage while my little Sunfire had about $50 in damage. Mainly because my rear bumper was rubber and hers was chrome. Her grill shattered and her hood buckled.

[wombat]

Oh god, of course it's normal to be shook up.

But maybe don't think about it too hard... seriously, if someone had just invented cars last week, and told us how many people would be maimed and killed by them, we'd never allow them to be manufactured, don't you think?

[jaydub]

The annual carnage from auto wrecks is horrifying.  Its hard to imagine the hoss-and-buggy equivalent would be quite as devastating.

[Turbo Ninja]

I'm coming up on the 10-year anniversary of my worst accident.  Driving back to Ohio U one weekday morning after working an Indians playoff game for FOX Sports the night before, I was on 77 South in Akron when a kid squeezed between me and the car in front of me.  I guess the fit was a little too close for the kid so he hit his brakes to put more distance between him and the first car, but that meant there wasn't enough room between the kid and my car.  Soon there would be negative space between us, at about 45 MPH.  Whammo.

My '83 Accord kept running, unaware that the front end was all bashed up and both front tires were flat.  I was fine.  We were able to move the cars to the side of the road and I had a proto-cell phone (big ass Motorola thing that was too big to fit in my jeans pocket) so I called my mom.  An officer showed up and, realizing the car would need to be towed away, told me to collect anything I'd need from it.  I gathered my bag, some CD's, and...the box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts I'd picked up just a few minutes earlier because you couldn't get them in Athens at the time.  The cop was not amused that I brought a box of doughnuts into his cruiser, like it was some elaborate prank I was pulling on him.  Honestly I was so dazed at the time I barely knew what I was doing.

My car was a total loss, the kid tried to press charges claiming some phantom injury but got shot down because the cops judged him to be at fault or something, and that's about the extent of it.  I'd been in fender benders before and since, but that one was the worst because it happened on an Interstate and it killed the car.  

At least I had the donut anecdote to make it an amusing story.

[AlohaDawg]

I've been rearended about 5 times, put one in a ditch and rolled another one. Pretty much I just get to cussin' anymore, the accident thing pisses me off more than anything else.

You'll be fine, it's normal to be concerned about something that could have been a lot worse.  I should be dead about three times already, two from car wrecks and one astonishing jolt of 220V electricity from an appliance line. My heart actually stopped - that's a weird feeling. I guess what I took away from all these experiences is 1) safety first and 2) concentrating on having a good, happy life in the present and future is way better than worrying about almost biting it in the past.

We're glad you're OK.

Also, Columbus drives pretty much SUCK in the rain or snow. I was never so pissed off as trying to negotiate Columbus in the winter. I grew up with tons of snow. Those guys CAN'T HANDLE IT.

Be aware and Beware!

[theinevitable]

I have never been in a wreck. I almost rearended someone once when I started thinking too hard about what the fastest route to get to work was. Luckily he saw that I didn't see him and changed lanes. That was intense.

Every time I turn into my neighborhood, I have this sudden feeling like I'm going to get hit by someone going down the wrong side of the street. I have to look the wrong way, every time.

[littlefallsmets]

To live in Los Angeles is to constantly be almost getting into accidents.

It is A Thing around here.

[smick]

I don't have any accident sadness to share.

I learned a pretty valuable lesson the other night though.  The yellow pads on the corners are considered handicapped ramps.  I wasn't fully blocking the corner, just partially, which if it was a wheel chair, or a rascal or some such would be just enough.  I felt like a jerk.  The cop didn't need to call me a "noob" though.

[V-Adore]

I'm doing a lot better today: no pain, and the shock's mostly died down. About the most traumatic thing today was being kind-of-yelled-at by my father for not going into my volunteer job today. ("Yes, Dad, I know it might be a while before it gets fixed, but that still doesn't make me want to drive a car without a driver's-side mirror...")

Thanks for the stories, everyone. It's kind of reassuring to know that most people have been in auto accidents, and that it's not some sort of Black Badge of Dishonor from which one can never recover. I had some serious worries about my license getting pulled right afterwards, you know?

[linnea]

I don't have any accident sadness to share.

I learned a pretty valuable lesson the other night though.  The yellow pads on the corners are considered handicapped ramps.  I wasn't fully blocking the corner, just partially, which if it was a wheel chair, or a rascal or some such would be just enough.  I felt like a jerk.  The cop didn't need to call me a "noob" though.

HAHAHAH!!! Noob! That's awesome.

I hate driving in Colorado with out of state drivers who freak out at the merest suggestion of precipitation. I'm hoping to get a Subaru (WRX cuz they're awesome) and the AWD will prove very handy in the snow, I think.

[lprkn]

I hate driving in Colorado with out of state drivers who freak out at the merest suggestion of precipitation. I'm hoping to get a Subaru (WRX cuz they're awesome) and the AWD will prove very handy in the snow, I think.

What about the jackasses who think they can do anything because they have 4-wheel drive? "I have the power, VROOOM! Ditch."